The German company behind Nomoo ice cream is a perfect example of how the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network (GS1 GDSN®) makes it easy and affordable for entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses to share high-quality product information with their trading partners.

They named their sweet treat Nomoo, and it is today quite a success with vegans and non-vegans alike. Though the young company has only 30 employees, Nomoo is nevertheless present in more than 2,000 stores, not only in Germany but also in Austria and Switzerland, and is conquering the café and restaurant markets as well.

Along with this marketplace success came a pressing demand from retailers and end consumers for detailed and reliable product information about their ice cream. Several of their larger retailers, in fact, specifically requested that they make their product master data available via the GS1 GDSN.

Known for their potato chips, pretzels and other snacks, Utz Quality Foods faced product data inaccuracy and inefficiency challenges—along with a major IT upgrade project underway.

Thanks to the expertise of Syndigo and the power of the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network (GS1 GDSN®), they now share high-quality product information with all their retailers using a cost-efficient, reliable and rapid approach.

As one of the largest multinational retailers in the world, Carrefour leverages the GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) across both B2B and B2C channels to facilitate global communication and to continuously improve its data quality to better inform its clients.

The impact of GDSN implementation can be seen across nearly every aspect of day-to-day business, enabling the organisation to meet everincreasing consumer expectations for data. Carrefour’s GDSN journey spans 15 years and continues to evolve to this day.

Two years, four phases and six trusts on: the Scan4Safety programme has demonstrated the benefits of adopting standards in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.

Through Scan4Safety, which has been called a world first, the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care or DHSC) funded the implementation of GS1 and PEPPOL standards in six acute NHS trusts (hospitals). As the demonstration phase draws to a close, it is timely in 2018 to reflect on the challenges and achievements of these six organisations.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust recognised the need for better inventory management. It employed GS1 barcodes to help reduce waste, save move and improve patient care.

The context

Portsmouth overhauled their inventory management system to resolve the challenge of managing 13 different types of barcodes, some containing duplicated identifiers, as well as correctly managing all products at the inner- and outer-packaging level. As part of the project, GS1 barcodes were implemented across the 27-theatre complex with 40 supporting locations, cardiology, audiology and six wards.

By leveraging GS1 barcodes, Portsmouth is able to uniquely identify products brought into key hospital storage areas. This helps the Trust feeds directly into the inventory management system and increases their overall efficiency.

Results

• Return on investment ratio of 8.5:1 achieved1
• On-hand stock reduced by 20%
• Waste reduced to less than 1%

1 Pomroy, J. (n.d.)Inventory management: Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

Duplicate product listings, incorrect associations, invalid brands, concerns about counterfeits and IP infringement—eMAG saw it all in the early years of their marketplace.

Since late 2019, sellers must properly obtain and indicate a GS1 GTIN for almost all new product categories, and eMAG uses Verified by GS1 to authenticate them before the listing is approved.

In a country as large and diverse as India, the sheer quantity of product data can be daunting for retailers and marketplaces to consider—especially because they must frequently ask themselves whether their data is incomplete, out of date or just plain wrong.

The powerful combination of DataKart and Verified by GS1 proved that trust and efficiency start with a valid ID.

Another major trend is a focus on the cargo owner. In recent years, shippers have become a top priority for carriers. In fact, some carriers are now directly partnering with large shippers like Maersk and Alibaba.

To effectively and efficiently operate in this complex, customer-centric supply chain, all stakeholders require visibility of the vessels and ports they visit. Stakeholders need to share up-to-date, reliable information about each vessel’s location, its speed and the shipments it carries—as well as data on the terminals, berths and waterways that the vessel visits to ensure its safety and optimal utilisation.

Timely information is also critical when it comes to efficiently connecting maritime vessels with other modes of transport such as road, rail or inland waterways.

To deliver visibility across the maritime supply chain, global data standards are clearly needed.

Headquartered in Japan, the group’s 3100 employees strive to not only respond to consumer demands for tasty and safe food, but also to anticipate them. Kibun recorded sales of ¥101,000 million last year.

To transport ingredients and products across their supply and distribution chain, the company uses wheeled metal cage trolleys that travel from location to location. But these trolleys were not being capitalised as a company asset, and Kibun teams noticed that too many of these cage trolleys were being lost. Worse, the missing trolleys were generating both costs and delays. When workers didn’t have enough trolleys, new ones had to be purchased; and in some locations insufficient trolleys were causing delays in shipping. This is a problem in any business, but in fresh food, shipping delays are particularly problematic.

Finland’s unique geography, its extremely northern location and its long, dark, cold winters can make it difficult to have efficient logistics that enable Finnish companies to successfully compete in global markets.

VR Transpoint, Finland’s leading transport and logistic service company, has long been meeting that challenge. It operates in several European countries including Russia, and offers rail, groupage, bulk goods and international transport and logistics services.

A substantial portion of VR Transpoint’s rail activity is devoted to shunting, the task of moving wagons from place to place in the yard as they are loaded and unloaded with goods. Until recently, the work was manual: yard workers with pens, paper and walkie-talkies walked through loading and unloading stations, radioing information about the contents and condition of each wagon they verified. An office worker on the other end of the radio would manually enter the data into an ERP system.

It was a time-consuming, inefficient and error-prone process.

VR Transpoint wanted to improve overall wagon shunting efficiency, optimise wagon maintenance and boost customer service by offering real-time wagon traceability information.